“Of course, it’s no problem at all. I already know two of them, plus the resort could use a little more airtime. It’s a selfish offer.”
I knew that wasn’t the case, because the resort was the setting for ninety five percent of the wedding content. But if he felt he needed an excuse to be nice to me, so be it.
Damn it,whywas I feeling tickles in the back of my nose? Winston was being taken care of, he was going to be fine. I sniffled hard.
“Okay, I appreciate it.”
My voice sounded wobbly and I wanted to punch myself in the face.
“Here,” Drew said, handing me an actual linen handkerchief as he walked away.
I looked down at the soft square in my hand. Ofcourseit had his initials on it. As much as I wanted to empty my nose in the thing and hand it back to him, I instead used it to delicately dab at my eyes.
I didn’t believe that he had a decent bone in his body, but he’d been surprisingly kind. I chalked it up to a once in a lifetime deviation from usual grumpy temperament.
Don’t get used to the nice version, I told myself.Assholes are forever.
8
DREW
“No, I’m serious, bro,” Carter gestured at the tall hedge in front of him. “I want this, but at your place.”
I maintained my neutral expression even though what Carter was suggesting was basically impossible. After all, we were at a botanical garden, where creative plant growing was a full time art form. Trying to recreate a boxwood maze at the resort where absolutely nothing like this currently existed would require a shit ton of money, and more importantly, time.
“Remember, we’re setting a new standard with our wedding,” Carter said. “Disruption, baby! And I think a maze like this would be mind blowing, you know? You come off the beach andbam, you’re lost in freaking labyrinth on the way to grab some cocktails. Maybe we can even hide a second bar inside the maze, for people who can’t find their way out—or who just wanna stay lost a little longer. It’s brilliant, right?”
He glanced at Kristen and she gave him a halfhearted nod. “Sure. I like it.”
She’d been under a dark cloud since the sunflower conversation, which was not the attitude we needed. This planning stage was supposed to be fun and lighthearted.
Emilia and I exchanged a look that didn’t require any words. We were both keenly aware of client satisfaction—or lack thereof—at all times. And now we were a united front, so it was in both of our best interest to figure out how to make it right. We needed our bride and groom to be nothing but delirious with joy and excitement for the event the entire time we were with them. And most of all, for the entire time they were on camera.
This was a triage for the resort. No sad faces allowed.
I was mindful of the two cameras hovering behind me as I formulated my answer.
“I can appreciate your creativity, Carter. It’s a fantastic idea. But building a live boxwood maze in the time we have before your wedding might be a challenge. We can definitely look into trying to source it, but we could also consider doing a faux maze, with artificial plants. Same effect, but a much easier execution—and much more control for you,” I pointed out, trying to sell the idea. “You wouldn’t be limited to what live plants can do. You could pick any shapes you wanted, any colors you wanted, any structure you wanted.”
Carter was not sold. He made a disgusted noise. “Fakeplants? No way. Tacky.”
“Well, we have to consider the comfort of our other guests as well. For example, a couple staying with us celebrating their golden anniversary probably don’t want to have to navigate a maze to get to the ocean.”
“We’ll rent out the entire place,” Carter insisted. “Problem solved.”
I forced a smile despite knowing that we were already near capacity for their wedding weekend with their room block. “I can check to see if that option is available.”
“So is that a green light? We good?”
Everyone turned to me. There was no way I could outright deny the request without looking bad on the show. Either I’d be the dick who flatly refused to give the couple what they wanted to be happy or I’d be the useless moron who hemmed and hawed and failed to get anything done.
Whyhad I agreed to take this on?
“I think our next step is talking to your florist to see if that’s a request they can handle,” I said smoothly, eager to pass the buck.
The Survivor-style audition they’d made the three florists go through had been painful to witness, but Dorian had insisted that it would make great TV. They’d picked a winner based on the centerpieces the florists had to create after a brief conversation about their vision for the wedding. It was no surprise that they’d all been gorgeous arrangements, but one of them had been lucky enough to include sunflowers in his design, which cinched the win.
“Got it. Hey E, can you write that down? We need to circle back and chat with our winning florist about getting that done,” Carter said to Emilia. “What was his name again?”
